There is much interest in utilizing very high bitrate digital subscriber line (VDSL) systems in the mobile back haul network, which requires the transport of time of day information to accurately synchronize network clocks at remote locations to a grandmaster clock somewhere else in the network. In a VDSL system, a local clock in a VTU-O (VDSL transceiver unit at the optical network unit) within a central office (CO) or remote terminal location defines the timing reference for the downstream transmit signal. The VTU-R (VDSL transceiver unit at the remote terminal) in the customer premises equipment (CPE) derives the timing from the received downstream signal, synchronizes its local clock to that of downstream signal, and uses this recovered clock as the transmit clock for the upstream signal. This loop timing configuration frequency synchronizes the upstream transmit clock with the downstream transmit clock, but phase synchronization is not achieved with the current configuration, which is an essential component for reporting time of day information across a VDSL link.